On her 18th birthday, Carolina Lovel learned that she was adopted and was given a letter written by her birth mother in an unknown language. After years of research she travels to Italy on a mission to find the truth about her past. Carolina is accompanied by three extremely gifted but mischievous students the FIGs from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. In an effort to help their favorite teacher, the FIGs will have to use their special abilities to decipher the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, and the one thing that is strangely similar to what Carolina was given. Their search will take them into the mystical world of gypsy tradition and magic, more exciting and dangerous than any of them could have imagined.To read reviews, please visit Barbara Casey's page on iRead Book Tours.

My Review

I accidentally started this series with book two. Yet, I didn't realize that I had read book two until I went to pick up this book and read that it was book one. That is how good Ms. Casey's writing was as I was able to jump right into book two with no problems. Although, I will admit that I kind of struggled with this book.

With book one, it felt like the descriptions and layout of all of the characters, FIG, and the Voynich Manuscript were drawn out too long for me. Don't get me wrong as I appreciate the descriptions and the background to the whole series but after a while I was looking for action. The last third of the story did start to pick up on this as a lead into book two. As you know the series does get better with book two.

Barbara Casey is the author of several award-winning novels for both adults and young adults, as well as book-length works of nonfiction true crime and numerous articles, poems, and short stories. Her nonfiction true crime book, Kathryn Kelly: The Moll Behind Machine Gun Kelly, has been optioned for a major film and television series. In addition to her own writing, she is an editorial consultant and president of the Barbara Casey Agency. Established in 1995, she represents authors throughout the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. Barbara is also a partner in Strategic Media Books Publishing, an independent publishing house that specializes in cutting-edge adult nonfiction. Barbara lives on a mountain in Georgia with her husband, and three dogs who adopted her: Benton, a hound-mix; Fitz, a miniature dachshund; and Gert, a Jack Russel terrier of sorts.

One
of the primary themes that runs through each book in The FIG Mystery Series is
the gypsy culture.

In
Book 1, The Cadence of Gypsies, Lyuba
is introduced. She not only is a gypsy, she is special in that she is a choovihni—a wisewoman, an exalted and
envied position among gypsy women.As
her birthright, she and she alone has been given the responsibility to pass on
the knowledge of the travelers to the ones who will follow. She is also the
mother of Carolina, the devoted mentor of three orphaned girls knows as Females
of Intellectual Genius (FIGs).

It
is not until her 18th birthday that Carolina learns that she is
adopted. It is then that the people she believed to be her parents present her
with a wooden box according to the adoption agreement. The box is from her
birth parents, and inside, among other things, is what appears to be a letter
written in an unknown language that is similar to the most mysterious document
in the world—the Voynich Manuscript. A few years later, after Carolina starts
teaching the FIGs at Wood Rose Academy and Orphanage for Young Women, she
decides to search for her biological parents. Fortified with information her
boyfriend is able to learn, and the FIGs’ eagerness to help her, she and her
three brilliant students embark on a journey to Italy. It is there that
Carolina meets Lyuba, a gentle soul with the knowledge of the ancients—her
mother.

Lyuba
returns in Book 2 of The FIG Mystery Series—The
Wish Rider. Because she is a choovihni,
she knows when Carolina is in trouble, as well as the FIGs, because her
daughter loves them. When Dara searches for her mother
deep in the depths of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, it is Lyuba who
is able to warn Carolina of the horrors and dangers that surround her and the
FIGs. It is then that Carolina realizes that she, too, possesses the knowledge
of the ancients passed down through generations. Even though she doesn’t fully
understand it yet, or how to use it as Lyuba does, she knows enough to be able
to hear her mother’s warnings.

In
The Clock Flower, Book 3 in The FIG
Mystery Series, Lyuba once again is able to tune into the dangers her daughter
and “her girls,” the three FIGs, encounter in the small province in China. The
connection between Lyuba and Carolina is stronger now with the passage of time,
and slowly Carolina is starting to learn about the strange abilities she has
inherited from her mother.

The
relationship between Carolina and Lyuba represents two different worlds: the
ancient world, and the contemporary world. Yet the love felt between this
mother and daughter, and the love they share with the three FIGs, diminishes
whatever differences that exist between those two worlds.

Popular posts from this blog

A Fatal Obsession
by James Hayman
on Tour September 1 - 30, 2018
Synopsis:"James Hayman’s edgy, ingenious novels rival the best of Lisa Gardner, Jeffery Deaver, and Kathy Reichs. A Fatal Obsession is his finest to date: a ferocious live-wire thriller starring two of the most appealing cops in contemporary fiction." —A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

Zoe McCabe is a beautiful young actress on the verge of stardom who has been basking in the standing ovations and rave reviews she’s been getting from critics and fans alike for her portrayal of Desdemona in an off-Broadway production of Othello. As she takes her final bows, Zoe has no idea that, seated in the audience, a man has been studying her night after night, performance after performance. A man whose carefully crafted plans are for the young actress to take a starring role in a far deadlier production he has created just for her.

DescriptionSadie Becker
is not herself. A 40-year-old, divorced mother of two, Sadie wakes up one
morning and realizes that she looks and feels like she did in her twenties.
Suddenly she’s unable to walk around in her new town of Cougarville without men
falling at her feet. Confused and alone, Sadie isn’t sure who to turn toÖexcept
answers to her problems might reside with her broodingly handsome reclusive
neighbor, Mathis.

An alpha shifter, Mathis lost the love of his
life, and he knows he’ll never find another mate. But his innocent new neighbor
clearly doesn’t know the danger she’s in, and he's the only one who can save her.

But when the attraction pulls too strong, will
Mathis’ animal nature be unleashed and claim Sadie for his own? Buck Naked is a sexy, emotional thrill-ride that will hook
readers on this fantastic new series.

Author BioEvangeline
Anderson is the author of the Brides of the Kindred, Alien Mate Index, and Born
to Darkness series. She lives in Florida, and to he…

Frustrated with their busy schedules, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday attempt to find togetherness by scheduling a weekly date night. The last thing Jessica Faraday expected for her date night was to take a couple’s gourmet cooking course at the Stepford Kitchen Studio, owned by Chef Natalie Stepford―the model of perfection in looks, home, and business.

When Natalie ends up dead and Murphy goes missing, the Thorny Rose detectives must peel back the layers of Natalie Stepford’s life to discover that the pursuit of perfection can be deadly.